Fish & wildlife Subbasin planning

Notice of request for recommendations

Version notes: On March 17, 2003, changes were made to the deadline and scientific review sections.

The Council is requesting recommendations in the form of subbasin plans (see "what is a subbasin plan?" below) to be adopted as amendments to the Council?s 2000 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (Program) between now and 2004.

Background

Under the Northwest Power Act, Congress charged the Council with developing and periodically amending a fish and wildlife program for the Columbia River Basin to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the development and operation of hydroelectric facilities while assuring the Pacific Northwest an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply.

In 2000, the Council adopted a set of amendments to the Program to begin what will eventually be a complete revision of the Program. In the first phase of the amendment process, completed in 2000, the Council reorganized the Program around a comprehensive framework of scientific and policy principles. The fundamental elements of the Program as revised are the vision, which describes desired accomplishments regarding fish and wildlife; basinwide biological objectives, which describe physical and biological changes needed to achieve the vision, consistent with the scientific principles; implementation strategies, which will guide or describe the actions needed to achieve the desired ecological conditions; and a scientific foundation, which links these elements and explains why the Council believes certain kinds of actions should result in desired habitat conditions and why these conditions should improve fish and wildlife populations in the desired way.

The Program amendments in 2000 set the stage for subsequent phases of the Program revision process, in which the Council will adopt more specific objectives and measures for the tributary subbasins, consistent with the framework elements already adopted. The Council intends to incorporate these specific objectives and measures into the program in locally developed subbasin plans for the 62 subbasins of the Columbia River (along with a coordinated plan for the mainstem Columbia and Snake rivers). The subbasin plans will become the source of specific actions and projects recommended by the Council for Bonneville funding and implementation, and will provide the context for the review of proposals for funding by the Council and the Independent Scientific Review Panel. The purpose of this call for amendment recommendations is to begin the process of developing and adopting the subbasin plans into the Program.

How to submit a recommendation

Mail paper copy and CD by May 28, 2004 to:

Mark Walker, Director of Public Affairs
Northwest Power and Conservation Council
851 SW 6th Ave., Suite 1100
Portland, OR 97204

See the formatting and submission guidelines for more information.

Who can submit a recommendation?

The general public or any interested party can submit recommendations. Under the Northwest Power Act, the Council is required to give written notice of a request for recommendations for Program amendments to the region?s federal and state fish and wildlife agencies and Indian tribes. The act also allows federal and state water management agencies, the region?s electric power producing agencies and customers, and the public to submit recommendations for Program amendments.

About the deadline

[March 17, 2003 revision: Recommendations for subbasin plans must be sent by Friday, May 28, 2004. This revised deadline seeks to provide the maximum amount of time available for developing recommendations while allowing for a Council amendment proceeding to adopt plans by the end of 2004.] (See original timeframe.)

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Additional guidance and information

The information below supplements the Subbasins section of the Program.

What constitutes a subbasin plan?

The elements of a subbasin plan are described in the Subbasins Section of the Program. Any subbasin plan adopted into the Program must consist of three general components:

• A subbasin assessment providing a description of historical and existing conditions;
• A clear and comprehensive inventory of existing projects and past accomplishments;
• A 10-15 year management plan with a vision, biological objectives and strategies for the subbasin.

A complete subbasin plan, as described in the Program, will be reviewed for adoption under the process defined in the Northwest Power Act. Recommendations received by the Council that represent less than a complete plan, such as specific components or elements of a plan, objectives or measures, will be evaluated in relation to other recommendations received for the subbasin -- particularly complete subbasin plans. All recommendations should be accompanied by supporting information and data.

For more detail, see this Subbasin Planning Overview and Technical Guide for Subbasin Planners.

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Role of subbasin plans

The role of subbasin plans and their expected content are described in the Subbasins section of the Program. In addition to becoming the source of specific actions and projects recommended for Bonneville funding and implementation, subbasin plans have a role in recovery planning for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as a coordination function at the local and state levels.

NMFS - For those areas that include salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act, NMFS has stated that the subbasin plans developed in this initiative will be used as the foundation for its recovery planning tasks. To that end, NMFS has provided interim targets for Endangered Species Act-listed salmon populations to subbasin planning groups. NMFS has stated that it would like to adopt subbasin plans as local recovery plans.

Integration with local efforts - The Council recognizes that there are other watershed and recovery planning efforts taking place across the Columbia basin. Where groups are already working at a local level, the Council will work in partnership with those efforts. The desired approach is to make those existing planning groups aware of the opportunity to have their subbasin plans adopted as part of the fish and wildlife Program, and where there is interest, to make additional resources and guidance available to those planners so that they can assimilate the Council?s subbasin planning components into their existing efforts. If successful, this will enable existing planning groups to move forward to meet their own objectives while also producing a product that can be adopted and used by the Council in guiding future Bonneville fish and wildlife expenditures in their subbasin areas.

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Coordinated and collaborative process

The Council has spent more than a year meeting with the state, tribal and federal entities about coordinated subbasin planning. The Council knows that there are many ongoing efforts aimed at fish and wildlife, as well as many interests within the boundaries of each state that need to be considered in the planning process. These include salmon recovery and water resources planning efforts; cultural resources and watershed assessments; focus watersheds; and other programs related to habitat, fish and wildlife protection and restoration. In order to integrate the Council?s comprehensive planning process with these other activities, the Council is looking to the states and tribes to take the leadership role in determining the best approach for integrating ongoing processes with subbasin plans to be adopted by the Council for the fish and wildlife Program.

The Council believes that subbasin plans proposed for adoption into the Program must be developed in an open public process that provides ample opportunity for participation by a wide range of state, federal, tribal and local managers, experts, landowners, local governments, and stakeholders. The Council expects that public process to take place in different ways across the basin, with two common stages. First, at the local or subbasin level, interested parties need to work together to develop a plan that, as far as possible, embodies the knowledge, policies, and support of the people in that subbasin. Second, when a subbasin plan is proposed for adoption into the Program, the Power Act?s amendment standards require a public process with full opportunity for public comment and participation.

The Council is working with the states and tribes through recognized state/provincial/tribal coordinating groups to address matters that transcend any one subbasin within a province. The Council is also working with states, tribes and federal agencies to establish a forum to provide recommendations to the Council on issues that have basinwide implications, as they arise.

For more information on the state/provincial/tribal subbasin planning coordinating groups in your area please contact the following people:

Informational workshops - The Council staff are available to work with state/provincial/tribal coordinators to plan informational workshops aimed at providing additional information about subbasin planning as needed. The Council will look to the coordinating groups to take the lead in initiating workshops as they see fit and to determine what information will be the most useful for that given area. The Council staff?s role in those workshops will be to answer questions about the Council, describe what resources the Council will make available to planners, and explain Program and Power Act requirements for subbasin planning. The Council will encourage the local, state and tribal entities leading these workshops to make the meetings open and convenient to the public.

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Schedule for submitting recommended subbasin plans to the Council

It is not possible to develop, review and adopt subbasin plans for the entire basin at one time. The Council has adopted a schedule for subbasin planning based in part on the ongoing provincial project review schedule. This is because the Council?s goal is to base project funding decisions on completed and adopted subbasin plans in the next cycle of the provincial review project selection process (interim subbasin summaries are currently being used in the first cycle of the provincial review). The subbasin planning schedule is also intended to satisfy the time required under the Power Act for the Council to review and adopt subbasin plans as part of its Program. There must be adequate time from when a plan is submitted to when the second round of provincial reviews begin for the Council to complete the statutory review and adoption process. With these considerations, the Council has proposed target dates for when subbasin groups within particular provinces should submit their subbasin plan recommendations for review.

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Funding for subbasin planning

The Council has worked with Bonneville to establish a basinwide, two-year subbasin planning budget of $15.2 million, one-half of that figure being available in Fiscal Year 2002 and one-half in 2003 to assist local entities with plan development.   The Council will enter into contracts with subbasin planning lead organizations. These ?lead entities? will represent, and work on behalf of, the state, tribal, federal and local governments and other local interests in one or more subbasins. The lead entity will be contractually responsible for delivering a subbasin plan to the Council. The lead entity may take on coordination, technical writing and technical support functions, or may subcontract for those or other functions. The lead entity will also coordinate with the statewide/provincial/tribal coordination group as necessary.  Subbasin planning funding may be provided to an organization if it meets the following criteria:

1a. Be designated by the statewide/provincial/tribal coordinating group (agreed to by state and tribal managers) as the lead entity for that subbasin;

-or-

1b. If no statewide/provincial/tribal coordination group exists, have demonstrated support by local entities within the given subbasin, including support by the state and tribal fish and wildlife managers for that subbasin; and all of the following:

2. Possess the organizational capacity to contract with the Council; and

3. Possess demonstrated intent and capability to submit a complete subbasin plan.

4. Be able to demonstrate that the planning functions, tasks, and work will be performed on behalf of the broadest possible interests in the subbasin.

5. Any additional criteria identified by the respective statewide/provincial/tribal coordination group.

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Review and adoption process

All recommendations submitted will go through three separate but simultaneous reviews: Council, public and scientific. The Council will develop an issue paper for each subbasin detailing any issues, concerns, questions or suggestions that come from the three reviews. To the extent that the recommendations for any particular subbasin are in conflict or consist of a collection of specific or incomplete ideas, during the public comment period the Council will facilitate efforts by the participants in that subbasin to reconcile the recommendations into one proposed subbasin plan or a set of alternative subbasin plans.

Council review - The Council will evaluate subbasin plan recommendations for consistency with the programmatic and basinwide elements of the Program. The Council will also subject proposed subbasin plans to independent scientific review, as called for in the Program. The Council will make the issue papers, the proposed subbasin plans and the results of the independent scientific reviews available for public review and comment. At the conclusion of the public process, the Council will then decide on final program amendments based on the recommendations, supporting documents and the views and information obtained through public comment and consultations with the various agencies, tribes and power customers in the region, consistent with the standards in Section 4(h) of the Power Act.

Public review - As recommendations are received to the Council, public comment periods will be established to allow 90 days of comment. Comments and recommendations will be made available on the subbasin planning section of the website.

Scientific review - [May 11, 2004 revision: See scientific review schedule] [March 17, 2003 revision: The Council?s August 12, 2002 Notice of Request for Recommendations stated that the scientific review of subbasin plan recommendations would take place after those recommendations are formally submitted to the Council, and simultaneous with the public review required by the Act. After consultation with those involved in subbasin planning, the Council has decided that it will offer scientific review of final drafts subbasin plans before they are formally submitted to the Council as recommendations. This adjustment will allow subbasin planners to receive input from the science review and make any changes that they decide are appropriate before submitting a final formal subbasin plan recommendation to the Council. The same considerations or questions that will be employed by the science reviewers provided in the August 12, 2002 Notice will apply, the only change is the timing of the review.]

In the Program, the Council stated that it would rely on the expertise of independent scientists to review proposed subbasin plans. Scientific review will help ensure that subbasin plans direct successful fish and wildlife and habitat actions. Scientific review will evaluate proposed subbasin plans for their consistency with the Scientific Foundation adopted as part of the Program and with the requirements for ?biological objectives? as described in the program. 

Scientific review will evaluate whether proposed plans are 1) internally consistent and 2) scientifically sound. Internal consistency means there is scientific support for the conclusion that the strategies proposed for a subbasin plan will in fact address the problems identified by the subbasin assessment. In evaluating whether subbasin plans are scientifically sound, the scientific review will be guided by the following considerations:

• Do the assessments appear to be thorough and substantially complete?
• Are the subbasin goals, objectives, and strategies scientifically appropriate in light of the assessment and inventory of existing activities?
• Does the plan demonstrate a linkage between the strategies, the biological objectives, the subbasin vision and the assessment?
• Are the goals, objectives, and strategies consistent with those adopted in the program for the province and/or basin levels?
• Do the plans demonstrate that alternate management responses have been adequately considered?
• Does the proposed subbasin plan include a procedure for assessing how well subbasin objectives are being met over time?
• Does the plan provide a scientifically supportable procedure for refining the biological objectives as new information becomes available about how fish, wildlife and the environment interact, and in relationship to how the plans are implemented over time?

The Independent Scientific Review Panel will conduct the reviews. The Council staff will also facilitate analysis of the subbasin plans using the Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment tool, allowing the Council to evaluate and understand in a consistent way how different plans have incorporated assumptions about how fish and wildlife are affected by their environments.

Scientific review is not intended as a substitute for the procedures and standards for review of recommended program amendments specified in Section 4(h) of the Power Act. The Council will ultimately evaluate recommendations for amendments consistent with those statutory standards; the scientific review described here will be providing information for the Council to consider along with other information in support of or commenting on the recommendations.

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